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Built a new stand for my Bandsaw

Here's a couple of pics of the Bandsaw stand I just finished. I know it is not much different than what some others have put together. Other mods to the saw can also be seen in the pics. Oh, and I added a pic of my heavy duty beer holder too.

I have a question now that I am looking at the coolant feed system though - do these bandsaws "flick" much coolant around when they are running? If my metal hobby tasks continue to expand I might consider getting one of these as an alternate to the chopsaws that fling sparks and debris all over the place....

If you notice my saw is mounted in a drip pan with a drain back to the recirculating pump. Both the pan and the saw are 26 inches long, I should have made the 28. It can be quite messy with coolant following the blade off the ends of the pan if you do not keep the flow of coolant down. I open the ball valve just enough to get a small stream of coolant flowing over the blade just before the cut, this seems to keep the heat under control and reportedly extends blade life. Also a blade wiper located just after the stock helps keep the coolant under control. The reason I am using the magnetic mounted coolant nozzle is that I can also use it on the drill press when needed.

The saws run slow so they do not "fling" much of anything off the blade very far. Much quieter and cleaner than a chop saw. Even cleaner if you choose not to use coolant, bu with water soluble oil as coolant, any splashes or spills are a small matter. I would never use an abrasive chop saw in my garage but use the badsaw often.

The taller stand allows me to use my pipe stands as in feed and out feed supports. The factory stand places the cutting table/vise at slightly less than 24" from the floor.

Larry

"I feel for the man who can only spell a word one way"......Mark Twain

Wow, that's a great band saw set up. I want one. Did you add the coolant system?

But, more important, that beer holders is genius - you even got rings on it to stabilize the beverage consumer. Now if you could connect some of that band saw coolant tubing to keep that beer cool, you'd have the perfect stand. I'm making some of these...

The hydraulic downfeed control is actually a pneumatic door closer, drilled, taped and filled with hydraulic fluid. The flow is controlled by a needle valve from an ice maker install kit. Yes it works but is not sealed at the top so the saw head must be raised slowly to the vertical position to avoid spilling hydraulic fluid out the top of the cylinder. Maybe a little problematic but not so much so as to make it worth the money to take the plunge for a "real" cylinder. This was not my idea. But I may be the only one who decided to go ahead with it, not having a lathe to make a proper sealed plug for the top of the cylinder. Works good enough for home shop use as far as I am concerned.

The coolant pump is another Harbor Freight item. I decided to stay with the magnetic coolant nozzle because that way I can also use it on the drill press when needed.

It is the current 4x6 banadsaw that Harbor Freight sells. I built the stand tall enough to work with my pipe stands. A major improvement over the little stand that came with the saw. In fact of all the modifications (improvements?) I have made to the saw, getting it up off the ground is the most useful.

Larry

"I feel for the man who can only spell a word one way"......Mark Twain